


Paranoid (Coming Home)

by Chocobofever



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 18:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21285851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocobofever/pseuds/Chocobofever
Summary: Kakashi returns from a mission to find his and Iruka's shared apartment empty. It wouldn't worry him if not for the late hour. He's too wired to do anything but sit and stare at the far wall.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 2
Kudos: 153





	Paranoid (Coming Home)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I Wake In The Night, I Pace Like A Ghost](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21256826) by [kycantina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kycantina/pseuds/kycantina). 

> MB will be out after I've looked at it with fresh eyes. Probably tomorrow. Look forward to it! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this too!

Kakashi is too wired to do anything else but stare at the far wall, hands tense and clutched in his lap. It’s late enough, or early depending on how you look at it, that small rays of sunshine light up the horizon. It’s in the early hours of morning that the devil wakes, they say, and Kakashi wonders how many people have gone through the exact scenario he now finds himself in.

To come home early in the morning and find your lover gone. Where was Iruka? His bed had been perfectly made, untouched all night. Kakashi knew very well that Iruka would not be expecting him yet, his mission was supposed to run at least another week, but this…

“Do you want me to look for him?” says a voice by his feet.

“No. Just make sure I don’t go after him. That’s all you need to do.” Kakashi snaps his fingers, a nervous gesture, and Pakkun gives him a side-eyed glance.

“You do know that just because he’s away—”

“I know. I’m not stupid.” Kakashi folds his fingers to keep them still. He seriously needs to get a grip of himself. The mission he’d been on had been a fiasco and a half, but that did not excuse him being so out of control.

Kakashi thinks, though he tries to avoid thinking at all cost, that he may have to re-evaluate his attachment to Iruka after this. He’s deep, way too deep and Kakashi is not _stable, _he’d barely passed his evals to take on a genin team. He’s skilled, Kakashi knows that, and effective, but he’s always been so damn _sensitive—_

Pakkun perks next to him and Kakashi’s eyes snap to the dog. He waits and barely a minute later he can hear it too; Approaching footsteps.

There’s the sound of laughter. Kakashi stomach drops. He eyes his dog, wondering if he needs to leave so he won’t cause another major massacre. Killing even one allied shinobi was frowned upon. But slowly, instead of warning his master or giving him the order to go, Pakkun’s tiny, puny tail begins to wag.

A key pushes into to the lock, not at first try though. It turns, and Kakashi really needs to speak to Iruka about being so carefree, even if it’s at home. The door swings open and light flows into the apartment. Both of them laugh, they’re being too loud for the time of night, and Iruka is halfway in before he pauses. 

“Kakashi?” Iruka says, and the uncertainty in his voice causes Kakashi’s fingers to spasm.

“Yes, dear?” Kakashi says in the most even tone he can muster. 

“Oh shit,” Iruka’s companion mutters. His voice sounds familiar, though right now that’s not important.

Kakashi is an assassin, but he is also human, which he tries to remember as he looks his lover in the eye. The distance between them is not considerable, nothing that can’t be crossed in less than a second, yet he feels disconnected. 

“Iruka,” he says, and Kakashi can’t help but feel his voice comes out wrong. Is that him? It can’t be anybody but him, but he knows there are more than one of those. “I need you to kick that man out.” 

Don’t think about it.

“I’m sorry,” Iruka says, eyes never leaving Kakashi’s.

“Dude, I know. I’m leaving that to you, I have no death wish. Do you need me to call…”

“No, there’s no need,” Iruka says calmly, and Kakashi finds himself relaxing at the certainty in the chuunin's voice.

That’s right. He’s not so far gone they’d need authorities to take him down. He’s just… On edge. And justifiably jealous.

“Bye, Kotetsu,” Iruka says pointedly, and the door is shut, leaving only Kakashi and Iruka in the apartment. Or so he thinks.

“I smell take out. I call dibs,” a voice says by Kakashi’s feet, and the jonin blinks, spell broken.

“Oh, you’re here too! Hello there,” Iruka says, and Kakashi almost takes insult at how happy the teacher sounds.

Why didn’t _he_ get such an enthusiastic welcome? Kakashi scowls at the dog and Pakkun has the audacity smirk. Surely there was something wrong with the world if he needed to compete with his _dog _for his lover’s attention.

As Iruka takes out plates for all three of them (Three! Three! Iruka served the dog! Well, he always does that…) and fills their stomachs with food (half take-out, half leftovers from the refrigerator), Kakashi finally finds his body coming down from its post-mission high. The lack of tension leaves him feeling sluggish and tired, and he’s easily led to the bedroom after they’ve all had their fair share. 

Kakashi sits on the edge of the bed and Iruka helps him undress. Kakashi has always found it calming, doubly so now. It gives him comfort to be touched by his lover, gently, not in a way that’s meant to lead to sex, but true love and caring.

Kakashi grabs on to his lover’s wrists as Iruka is about to strip him of his undershirt. “You should leave a note if you’re not home at night.” 

“You weren’t due for another week, so I…”

“I know,” Kakashi interrupts. “But even then. Today… I panicked.” 

Iruka doesn’t know what to say to that. It’s not the first time they’re dealing with issues of jealousy, or Kakashi’s paranoia for that matter, but Kakashi gets the feeling the chuunin still does not understand. 

“I know, intellectually,” Kakashi says, his voice low. “But when I come home… Sometimes I’m an animal. Do you get that?” 

“You’re _not _an animal—”

“_In me _is an animal,” Kakashi says more forcefully. “And I’m dangerous, you know that.” He can see Iruka wanting to protest, the brunette’s eyes flashing, but he keeps his mouth shut. Kakashi is impressed, knowing how hot-headed his lover can be. Especially when it comes to defending those he holds dear. “Or what? You going to insult me and say I’m not?” Kakashi says jokingly, and it defuses the tension when Iruka makes a face. 

“You’re not as funny as you think,” the chuunin says tartly.

“No? I think I’m very funny.”

“You’re really not,” Iruka says, but it’s half-hearted and he doesn’t resist it when Kakashi leans in for a kiss.

"Leave a note," Kakashi whispers against his lips.

* * *

He’s on the border between life and sleep when he feels Iruka’s weight shift on the mattress to face his back.

“I love you, you know,” Iruka says. 

“I know,” Kakashi says, sleepily.

“If I say I love you, you’re supposed to say you love me too.” 

“I love you too.” 

As soon as Kakashi says it, Iruka’s arms wrap around his waist and Kakashi rouses slightly, no longer quite so asleep. The chuunin presses his forehead into his back. “I missed you,” Iruka says, like it’s a secret. “I know you can’t sleep like this, but sometimes I just miss having you close. I love you and I really like having you here with me.”

Suppressing a sigh, Kakashi places his palm over Iruka’s, squeezing. “We can sleep like this after I’ve had some actual sleep.” Iruka huffs out a laugh, and Kakashi feels the corners of his lips turn up too. 

They’re some pair. The paranoid and the cuddly.

“Would you sleep better if I took the couch tonight? I know I’m… Not quiet.” 

“No,” Kakashi says. 

“You’re sure?”

“Iruka… I’ll sleep best once you go catatonic. Here. In bed. Preferably today.”

Iruka huffs out another laugh. “It’s daytime though…” 

“Doesn’t matter,” Kakashi says. “I haven’t slept in days.”

“It’s just, I actually feel quite alert.”

Kakashi opens his eyes and twists so he can stare down his boyfriend. Iruka looks sheepish.

“Do you need _help_ falling asleep?” Kakashi asks, not overly kindly. 

“You’re so rude.”

“I’m tired. It’s not the same thing.”

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: It's never stated clearly in the final version, but Iruka and Kotetsu attended Kurenai's birthday party and were thus out drinking. Kotetsu was supposed to sleep it off at Iruka & Kakashi's since Izumo is away on a mission.


End file.
